Labour market information

Spain - Andalucía

Short overview of the labour market

Andalusia is located to the south of the Iberian Peninsula and is the southernmost point of the European continent. It borders the Autonomous Communities of Extremadura and Castile-La Mancha to the north; the region of Murcia to the east; the Mediterranean Sea, the Strait of Gibraltar and the Atlantic Ocean to the south and Portugal to the west. It is the second largest Autonomous Community in Spain (87 597 km2) and is comprised of eight provinces (Almeria, Cadiz, Cordoba, Granada, Huelva, Jaen, Malaga and Seville,). The population of Andalusia on 1 January 2015 (provisional results from the National Institute of Statistics) was 8 393 252, which gives it a population density of 95.80 inhabitants/km2. 633 957 foreign nationals reside in Andalusia, accounting for 7.55 % of the population.

The latest data available from the Labour Force Survey for the third quarter of 2015 reveal an unemployment rate of 31.73 % (1 281 900 persons unemployed and 2 758 100 persons employed). Malaga and Seville have an unemployment rate below that of Andalusia as a whole (28.97 % and 31.23 % respectively). Cadiz (37.18 %) and Jaen (35.38 %) are the provinces in the Autonomous Community of Andalusia with the highest rate of unemployment (41.26 %). The activity rate in Andalusia is 58.69 % and the rate for men surpasses the female rate by more than 13.50 percentage points.

According to data from the National Institute of Statistics (DIRCE the Central Companies Directory on1 January 2015), the number of companies stands at 480 094, of which 221 865 have employees and 98.98 % have fewer than 50 members of staff.

The report presented by the Economic Analysts of Andalusia in October 2015 predicts that the GDP in Andalusia will grow by 2.8 % in 2016, a figure likely to be similar to but below the 3 % foreseen for the whole of Spain. In 2015, all production sectors grew by 3.1 %, with the exception of Agriculture. The biggest growth was seen in Construction, with an increase of 5.8 %, and in Services, which grew 3.2 % with an increase of 1.3 percentage points on the previous year.